#i would prefer for anyone not to try to start a debate or argument with me in the notes

[turtally-tubular]

honestly i dont get whats so hard to understand about the cpunk shit and why people are getting so fussy about it. its literally as simple as “if you arent physically disabled then its not for you”. and like. if you consider yourself physically disabled, then good for you, you can be part of cpunk. if not, go to neuropunk, madpunk, etc spaces.

how is that so hard to understand 😭😭

[starsstuddedsky]

Tangled in Love

vernon x reader

summary: there's nothing in the world that vernon loves more than cats. at least, that's what you think

genre: fluff, tiny bit of angst, non-idol!au, uni au, f2L, idiots to lovers, fake dating if you squint, technically university au

warnings: none!

wc: 3.8k

a/n: started this a WHILE ago and finished it like a month ago but i wanted to let it sit lol,,, may or may not have been the other option for the poll i put out and then i may or may not have forgotten to post.... anyways i am working for literally the whole summer until school starts again so i can't promise i'll be writing a whole bunch </3 so basically: enjoy bc idk when anything else will come lol (not going on official hiatus though!! just like... limbo) pls pls feel free to drop in anytime and chat!! also requests are open but again,, i'll write when i write lol

tldr: adulting sucks, i love you all, none of this has to do with the actual story lol

Vernon’s car sits in your driveway. The sight of his little red sedan evokes a strong sense of familiarity, almost as if it’s yours. It’s survived high school and his first three years of college, up till now, though the engine sometimes shakes the car a little too much and the air conditioning chooses to work less often than you would prefer. Still, the one time Vernon mentioned getting a new car, you nearly cried, so you don’t let yourself complain too much. 

He waits for you, keys in hand, as you tug on your shoes and sprint out the door with a shout of goodbye to your parents. Your shoes nearly slip off because you didn’t put them on all the way and they’re still untied when you make it to the front seat, slamming the door shut behind you and pulling on your seatbelt. 

“You didn’t have to rush,” Vernon says, barely sparing a glance at you. You do a supreme job pretending it doesn’t bother you. 

“Yeah, but my dad is watching hockey,” you say. Though it’s been years since Vernon has been to your house for a “play date,” you know the memory of your father yelling at the television as if the players can hear him isn’t one that Vernon (or anyone for that matter) can forget easily. 

“You know if you move out, you don’t have to hear them,” he says, finally glancing at you before turning his head to watch the road as he backs down the driveway. 

“If I move out, I also have to pay my bills on my own,” you say. 

“You have three job offers and you haven’t even graduated yet,” Vernon says. “Of all our friends, you are the most financially stable, so don’t you dare try that argument on me.” This debate has been going on ever since Vernon announced he was moving out; two years in the dorms on campus proved more than enough for him. 

You don’t understand why he’s so insistent about you moving out. Sure you complain about your parents occasionally but not enough to really matter, and he knows how grateful you are that they’ve let you stay in your childhood room and rarely let you pay for anything. 

So why? You set your eyes on him, with his annoyingly perfect features that you’ve known most of your life. He studies the road, indifferent to your glare and undistracted. 

That’s the Vernon you know: focused on the moment, and never noticing you. You know how pitiful you sound, pining for someone for so long who has never once spared you a second look. Still, before everything else, he’s your friend, your best friend. You won’t ruin that just because you caught feelings. 

“Why are we going an hour away again?” You ask, resting your back against the cushioned seats and turning your head to the window to watch the scenery pass by. It’s easier to avoid thinking about those feelings when you aren’t staring at him. 

“Because the people running the rescue needed a volunteer to pick up the kittens.” 

“And why am I here?” 

“So I don’t get kidnapped or murdered,” Vernon says nonchalantly. 

“How am I going to prevent you from getting kidnapped or murdered?” 

“Strength in numbers?” He takes his eyes off the road for half a second to flash a smile at you. 

You rolled your eyes, plugging your phone into the aux. “You should have asked Jihoon. Between his gym obsession and unbridled rage, the nonexistent potential kidnappers-murderers would never stand a chance.” 

“And he has good taste in music. Bump,” he says, bracing his arm in front of you as he hit a particularly large pothole. He drops his arm as soon as the car stops shaking and you ignore the urge to catch his hand in yours. 

“He does not, and you better not be implying I have bad taste!” You dig through your playlists, trying to find the Vernon-approved one. 

“I was implying but now I’ll outright say it.” 

“His playlist is just Bruno Mars and Harry Styles and one random Ariana Grande song.” You hold up the shared playlist for good measure. Vernon ignores you, refusing to take his eyes off the road. 

“Okay, not good taste, but better than yours.” 

“What is wrong with my taste in music?” 

“No comment.” 

“How have we been friends this long?” You ask. You can’t quite say it with a straight face; the idea of not having Vernon in your life is an absurdity you can’t imagine. 

“By the way, you need to give directions,” Vernon says. “I sent you the address last week.” 

You shake your head but dig through the messages to find the address, putting Jihoon’s playlist on to prove your point. Vernon pretends not to care, singing along to “Leave the Door Open,” as if he didn’t make fun of Jihoon a week ago because he played the song on repeat during his four hour shift at the cafe. 

When you’re being honest with yourself, you know you want more than riding in Vernon’s front seat and making pointless jokes. More than once, you’ve imagined what it’s like to go home with him and stay there, to wake up in his bed because you share it with him, instead of the times you drank too much and he slept on the couch (because of course Vernon is the type of person to give up his bed for his friend). Moments like that make it harder to remember that he doesn’t feel the same way. 

You were doing a great job of paying attention until the second half hour, when you got stuck in standstill traffic. In your mind, only a few minutes pass, but suddenly Vernon shakes your shoulder and your heart shoots bolts of adrenaline into your veins to wake you up. 

“We’re here,” he says softly. He holds your phone with the directions still open. The engine shakes the car; he must have literally just stopped. It takes a couple moments to remember that he drove you into the middle of nowhere to pick up some kittens to foster them (another bullet point in the ever growing list of why you love Vernon: he does absolutely insane things for what he loves. What would it be like to be the person he loves?). He stares at you for a moment and for some godforsaken reason, you think he’s going to kiss you. 

He points to the corner of your lips. “You drooled.” He laughs at your groan, turning in his seat and cutting the engine, tossing your phone into your lap. 

The door creaks when you pull on the handle but it swings open. You are extra careful when you swing it shut, being as gentle as possible. Vernon raises his eyebrows but doesn’t comment on it. You stretch until your back finally pops, jogging to catch up with Vernon who didn’t wait for you, striding up the smooth driveway. 

Warm pastel yellow greets you, a cute door that matches the array of flowers on the front porch perfectly. Vernon sneezes and presses the doorbell, stepping back to wait, shoulder pressing against yours. Even though his jean jacket and your cotton t-shirt separate you from really touching him, you feel a different sort of warm, a tingly feeling that spreads from your insides and makes you feel giddy. 

After a couple minutes, the door opens, revealing a smiling woman and a child that can’t be more than five clinging to her leg. “You must be the fosters! Sorry, it’s a little hectic today, but come on in!” She ushers you in, picking up the child. 

Some psychopath. You glance at Vernon but he turns his back on you, following the woman down the hall to a closed door. Whatever, it’s not like he needs to see you to know the jokes you make. 

“We’ve been keeping them away from the rest of the house since it gets so chaotic,” she says. “I’d love to keep them but we’ve got two toddlers and a hyperactive dog.” She sounds genuinely regretful, which you understand as soon as you step over the baby gate and into the room. It looks like it was a spare bedroom (you can’t help but think it’s for the children when they get too big to share a room), but the bed has been stripped and there isn’t any other furniture. In the middle of the room, in a nest of blankets, a grown cat sits and licks tiny balls of fur that mewl softly in protest. The black cat pauses in her grooming, studying you and Vernon while the woman and her child watch from the door. 

“Do you want to tell the lovely couple what we named them?” She asks the child. 

You freeze. Did she just call you a couple? “We’re not–” Vernon stops you with a hand on your arm, sitting cross legged on the ground and facing the woman and her child. 

“The momma is Pinky,” the child mumbles, barely audible. “‘Cause she has really pink feet.” 

You smile at her, though you’re still reeling from Vernon’s hand, which slips from your arm to interlace his fingers with yours. “Did you name her?” 

The child grins. “Yeah! But my brother named the babies.” She pouts. 

“I think Pinky is a great name,” you say. Vernon grunts in agreement. Pinky stands and wanders slowly toward Vernon’s hand (the one not holding yours), which he holds outstretched while looking away. Looking at you. You get to see the exact moment Pinky brushes her head against his fingers, watch the corners of his mouth creep up in satisfaction, watch his eyes slip away from yours as he strokes her head. She lets off a low rumble as she purrs, brushing her whole body against his foot before leaving him to study you. 

You’ve never thought of yourself as a cat-person or a dog-person (you love them all the same), but a life-time as Vernon’s best friend (and an abundance of cat cafes) have trained you in how to get cat’s to befriend you. You let Pinky move however she wants, hyper aware of Vernon’s hand squeezing yours once before letting go. 

He shifts to look at the kittens, earning a wary glance from Pinky. She watches him for a moment before turning back to you, brushing against your hand and eventually turning her back on you, purring like the engine of Vernon’s car the entire time. 

“What’s this one called?” Vernon asks, pointing to the orange colored kitten. 

“That’s Muffin, Momma named her,” the child explains. She stands at the baby gate alone, her mother off somewhere getting all of their supplies so that you and Vernon can leave with them. Her little fingers curl around the metal. “The black one is Fried and the white one is Egg. That’s what my brother named them.” 

Vernon nods, smiling over the tiny kittens. Pinky finally decides she doesn’t want him quite so close, leaving your side to place herself between him and the kittens. He laughs, sliding back to sit next to you. 

“There’s no way you don’t end up adopting at least one of them,” you whisper. 

“I have self-control.” 

“Wanna bet?” 

Vernon turns to look at you except he’s much too close, nose just barely brushing against yours. It takes all of your willpower not to glance at his lips, infinitely harder when you realize you can feel his breath on your lips. Would he kiss you back? You push that fantasy away immediately: it’s Vernon. He’d push you away and call you weird, or do that judgy-eyebrow-wiggle-thing that he reserves only for special occasions (most recently used when Soonyoung was talking about a hookup gone wrong). You’ve always been the one he looks at when someone does something weird; what would he do if it was you being weird? Your stomach turns, the butterflies eating each other alive. You can’t do that to him, no matter how perfect his lips are. 

You jump at the sound of someone clearing their throat. You turn back to the door to see the woman holding a cat carrier doing her best not to smile. 

“Not trying to rush you two, but the sooner they settle into a nice loving home, the better,” she says, winking at ‘loving.’ You really should correct her. Actually, Vernon should correct her. He always does, the very few times that you have been mistaken as a couple. He never hesitates, so why isn’t he doing it now? Does he really not realize what she’s implying? 

He stands up, turning to face you and extending his hands to pull you up. You roll your eyes but take them anyway, ignoring the way your heart sinks when he lets go this time. He takes the carrier and gently picks up the kittens, blankets and all, and tucks them inside. Pinky follows immediately after, as if she couldn’t bear to be away from her children for more than a second. 

“I have a box ready by the door with their food, and toys, and other supplies, and I know you said you have a litter box and you’re ready, but I just wanted to make sure that they settle in nice, and I added a blanket in case they’re homesick, and–” She pauses, peering at the dark holes of the carrier as if she can see the little kittens inside. She takes a deep breath, picking up her child again, stepping to the side so that you and Vernon can leave the room. “I know you two will take good care of them, I do, I just– I’m going to miss them.” 

“Me too,” her child says, clinging to her mother’s neck. 

The woman smiles. “But we said our goodbyes already, and they’re going to be so happy with these two, right?” 

“Of course,” you say when Vernon doesn’t answer. “He’s been obsessed with cats since he was smaller than you!” You wink at the child, who giggles. 

You pick up the box at the door, grunting at the heaviness. 

“We can switch,” Vernon says softly but you shake your head. 

“It’s just to the car, it’s fine.” Vernon looks like he’s going to argue more, but finally he steps onto the front porch, moving as gently as possible, trying to disturb the precious cargo as little as possible. 

“Thank you so much again,” the woman says, setting her child down. “We really do wish we could keep them, but it makes me happy knowing that someone capable will be taking care of them, especially an adorable couple like the two of you. Do keep me updated on their adoptions.” 

You force a smile and choke out a “thank you,” following Vernon mindlessly down the driveway after she closes the door.

Adorable couple, were her exact words and Vernon said nothing. Why? The word hangs on your tongue, threatening to spill out if you so much as open your mouth. You watch as Vernon sets the carrier in the backseat, then takes the box out of your arms and places it on the floor. You force yourself to move to the passenger side when he raises his eyebrows at you, but once you’re sitting down and the seatbelt is across your chest, you’re frozen again. 

Vernon takes your phone when you don’t move, putting in your passcode (the sum of his birthday and yours). He pulls up his own playlist, a collection of hyperpop and indie artists that you normally enjoy listening to. Today it takes all your concentration not to burst. 

You almost make it the whole drive, all the way to his block, the apartment building he’s spent the last year and a half in that’s become far too familiar to you. How much time have you wasted away on the floor of his living room, drinking, doing classwork, listening to him talk about the future, rambling to him about the midnight thoughts that threaten your heart? He knows everything about you, except what you need him to know the most. 

When the question begins to burn in your heart, you can’t hold it anymore. Vernon pulls into his parking spot and it falls from your lips before you realize it. “Why?” 

He has the audacity to feign ignorance, blinking at you before finally asking, “Why what?” 

“Why did you let her think we are a couple?” 

One of the kittens mewls in the silence, a soft cry for help, sounding pitifully like your own heart. 

Vernon stares ahead of him at the concrete wall, the fading red number 19 that designates this spot as his. Just say something, your heart begs him. Stop giving me hope where there is none. His shoulders rise in the tiniest shrug. “I guess I was just curious.” 

“Of what?” 

He swallows, Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. He glances at you, just once. “What it would be like.” He sighs. “This really isn’t the time for this conversation.” 

Your grip on the door handle is so tight your knuckles are white. So desperately, you want to believe he’s trying to say what you think he’s saying but you refuse to give yourself hope unless it’s real. “What conversation?” 

“Okay, for the record, I did think this through,” he says, “a lot. Like, for months. This isn’t coming out of nowhere, I really did try to figure out if it’s just a passing thing because the last thing I want is for things between us to be weird because you’re my best friend and I tried to imagine my life without you and that was worse than anything, so I decided I wouldn’t ruin anything except I can’t stop thinking about–”

“Vernon.” 

He pauses, turning to face you again and this time he doesn’t look away. You’ve never felt self-conscious under his gaze, not when he’s seen every awkward stage of your life and stuck with you anyways. His eyes have always been familiar to you, an oasis of comfort that you always find yourself drifting toward. But the longer he stares at you, the more you want to run away, hide from the heartbreak you see in his eyes. 

“I think I like you,” he says. “No. I do. Like, as in more than a friend. God, none of these words are working.” 

You stare at him. He’s saying everything you want him to say. He’s saying he likes you. Why can’t you move? 

Vernon runs a hand through his hair, and sighs. “Like I said, I don’t want to ruin things between us, you're still my best friend first. But I’m also sure about how I feel and I don’t want to keep it from you any longer. I can’t stay in this limbo of holding onto something that doesn’t exist, so, I’m really sorry.” 

“Sorry?” You repeat, frowning. “Why are you sorry?” 

“Because… I like you. And that ruins… this.” He gestures between you and him and that’s when you finally realize that he doesn’t know. 

“You dumbass,” you say, “I like you, too.” 

Vernon frowns, mouth hanging open a little, and you have to wonder if you looked this goofy when he was talking. Your heart swells when you realize you’re the reason for it. “You do?” 

“Yes,” you say, grabbing his hand. Your cheeks ache a little, and you realize that you’re smiling wider than you ever have before. You’ve never been this happy, not when you graduated high school, not when you and Vernon found out you got into the same college, not when you got a perfect score on that notoriously impossible chemistry final. “Vernon, I am an idiot that always thought you didn’t feel the way I did so I did everything I could to hide it. But I like you, I really, really do, and I’m sorry I never let it show.” There’s another word for how you feel, but you aren’t quite brave enough to use it yet, even if it’s what you really mean to say. 

Vernon leans closer, pressing his forehead against yours. “We really are dumb, huh?” 

“I can already hear Jihoon’s gloating.”

“He’s been nagging you too?” Vernon groans softly but the smile never leaves his lips. “He’s going to be insufferable.” 

You’ve grown used to silences with Vernon. Sometimes they are painful, like when he tells a joke and only you laugh. Usually they’re peaceful, comfortable silences that can only exist between two people that have nothing left to say but stay together anyways. But this silence is heavy, a weight on your shoulders pushing you to do something, move closer. You’ve known him your whole life but this is foreign territory. 

His breath kisses your lips again and this time you have the bravery to lean forward, just a little. His lips are soft, bottom lip chapped a little more than the top but it is warm and it feels like a first and thousandth at the same time, like unlocking the door to a house you know you’ll spend the rest of your life in. Your mind floats farther and farther away, in some place of impossible happiness that can’t quite believe that this is real. 

A soft cry from somewhere to your left brings you back to earth. You pull away at the same time he does, glancing at the backseat. Right. The kittens. You glance at Vernon, whose mouth is still a little open, eyes wide and flustered. It makes you want to kiss him all over again but you settle for laughing. 

“I guess we should go inside,” he says, leaning away from you though he doesn’t turn his back yet. 

“We should get them settled,” you say, glancing at the carrier again. 

Vernon nods, opening his door and grabbing the heavy box, pausing by the entrance to the building to wait for you to grab the carrier. Silence falls again as you ride the elevator up but you’re more than familiar with it. 

It doesn’t take long to settle Pinky and the kittens, not when Vernon already had a room set up for them. He figures there’s been enough stress for the day and they should get some peace and space to relax, so you stretch out on the couch, taking your usual corner. Vernon sits next to you, the inch of space separating you feeling like a mile. 

Vernon glances at you, chewing on his lip before asking, “You’ll stay?” 

“Always.” 

The grin that splits his face has you swooning all over again, so when he throws an arm over your shoulder, leaning into your side, your brain fully stops functioning. You have to will thoughts into existence, which is silly because it’s Vernon and he’s done this a million times. But when you tuck your head onto his shoulder and he kisses the top of this head, you know everything is different. And exactly how you want it. 

“You’re definitely going to adopt Fried,” you say. 

His laughter bounces you. “No way.” 

“It’s Fried or Muffin. You can’t handle their cuteness, I saw you baby talking at them.” 

“I'll stay strong.” 

“What if I want a kitten?” 

Vernon doesn’t hesitate. “Egg is pretty cute.” 

“Sucker.” 

“Only for you.” 

thank you for reading <3

[uboat53]

Forget who won or lost last night's debate, let's face it, vice-presidential debates rarely do much to alter a presidential race and it's just an excuse for pundits to milk more paycheck. No, I want to talk about something a bit more important, did anyone else notice that J.D. Vance got very offended when the moderator dared to state factual information relevant to something he said?

This isn't a one-off either, Trump and most of his supporters have been outraged at fact-checkers generally ever since he started campaigning back in 2015. They've been working tirelessly ever since to try to define fact-checking out of the job of journalism.

In doing so, they use excuses like "well, if the other side disagrees then they can fact-check", but I want to make sure that every single person is clear as to why that's a terrible idea, because it is. Let's talk about the Gish Gallop.

Dwayne Gish was a creationist in the 1980s and, as was the style at the time, he would travel the country participating in formal debates with proponents of evolution. Over time, he developed the method that eventually was named after him, the Gish Gallop. The idea behind Gish Gallop is very simple, you make a bunch of statements in rapid succession. Each statement takes only a second or two to say, but would take minutes or longer to disprove. In a debate where only two sides are allowed to speak, this forces the other side to either let your statements go unchallenged or to spend all of their time disputing them, failing to make any points or their own and probably also failing to disprove all of them in the time allotted.

In other words, a debate where there is no requirement to make factual statements or back up anything you say with factual evidence is a debate that favors the liar.

Now, I reviewed a few fact-checks of the vice-presidential debate and one thing becomes immediately clear, J.D. Vance lied a lot more than Tim Walz did. Politifact checked Walz at 6 true statements to 2 false while Vance was at 6 false to 1 true, the AP had Vance at 5 false statements to Walz's 2, and Factcheck.org had Vance at 10 to Walz's 2 false staments.

Should Walz have been forced to use all of his debate time rebutting Vance's lies? More importantly, even if he did, was there any reliable way for the audience to tell, without outside information, which of them was telling the truth? Without a moderator whose job it is to point out factual information when one side or the other lies in their argument, there's no way for the side that is being truthful to win.

Now, if you're a Trumpist, that's obviously the goal, Trump lies a lot and everyone who follows him does too; setting the rules up for liars to win is obviously good for them. For the rest of us, though, anyone who isn't mindlessly dedicated to the cult of Trump, why would we want a system that rewards lying and penalizes the truth? I hope you can see that we wouldn't.

More importantly, think about what it means that one side is relentlessly pushing for rules of debate that massively advantage liars. The media itself also isn't blameless here, the Gish Gallop has been well known since the 1980s and the fact that the news media after nearly a full decade of Trump still hasn't taken the most basic lessons of how to deal with it is absurd and it's a huge failing of the so-called "bulwark of democracy".

Ultimately, though, you, as a citizen of a democracy, have the ability to make up your own mind. Whatever else you think, whatever policies you may prefer or whatever your political preferences may be, I want you to ask yourself one question:

Do you want people who incentivize lying to govern this country?

[odinsblog]

OMG, white people get sO mad when you block them on tumblrdotcom. They be like, “YOU UNBLOCK ME AND DEBATE ME RIGHT THIS MOMENT SO I CAN TELL EVERYONE WHY I THINK YOU’RE WONG!”

Like, my dude, you dO know that you can go and make your own posts, right? You aren’t a “victim” bc you got blocked

Like, sometimes I don’t mind a good natured debate (so long as we’re not “debating” things like basic human rights), but I don’t owe anyone the discourse™ on this website. And if even if you’ve somehow made a good point, why on earth would I or anyone be enticed to not block someone who starts or ends their comments with snide personal insults? My blog is not a democracy, beyotch

SN: They’re unintentionally revealing their ingrained desire, where what they REALLY want is to control what certain people say and force others into using their preferred narrative. They aren’t really interested in dialogue, they just want the world to bend to their preferred narrative (hint: you can simply make an argument of your own and lay it out there, you don’t have to harass others on their posts and their little corner of the internet)

I love social media, but one bad thing about it is, it teaches many people to be smug sanctimonious assholes, instead of just actually trying to talk to other people like they’re human beings with differing opinions

Anyway, it never ceases to amaze me at how privileged some people are, like they’ve never been told to stfu before

When you tell ‘em, they be shook like 😮 🫢 🫨

LOL, well they’re in luck because I am just the Black man who will tell them precisely what they’ve been needing to hear: despite what your parents may have told you all your life, you are not a ✨special boy✨so please have a tall glass of blocked + STFU

[lus-sav]

im chronically obsessed with your daredevil aus!! if you have any headcannons you want to share id love to hear them (ps. your mob au has eaten my brain)

Me with my AUs:

Ah. I wish. If only I could clone myself. 😂

Some stray thoughts on the mob au to further the brain rot ❤️:

Bruin has the most fun when he’s in court.

He’s argumentative by nature. He likes debating and solving problems. Loves it even, when the stakes aren’t human lives and his mother isn’t playing games with rules that change constantly.

The years he spent studying to be a lawyer were the closest thing he had to a happy life. So. Bruin often represents his own people whenever they get caught for this or that crime.

Sure, he has a team of excellent lawyers, Marci Stahl included, and he defers to them whenever their field of expertise crops up. But if he has the time and the means, he’ll take on the case.

(This is probably how he met Matt Murdock. Met him and decided he likes the lawyer. Perhaps far more than he should. And imposed his protection on the man when he started being recklessly heroic and pissing off people who’d happily brain him. Bruin had, at different points, tried to recruit Matt. But the man was so vehemently against it, visibly enraged at the mere thought—Well, Bruin, the charmer, was charmed.)

(Bruin often helps Murdock with any cases that involve Bruin’s opponents. Free labor, right? He’s also deeply suspicious of how Murdock doesn’t seem to doubt his words. Doesn't respect him, doesn't like him—hates him really—but doesn't think him a liar. Interesting guy. Definitely needs further observation.)

(Bruin doesn't think he's ever met someone who seemed to know him and trust him at the same time. Talks with Murdock were. They were something.)

Bruin prides himself in this. Unlike Fisk, who’d brute-force his way to the top and a pile of bodies, Bruin would find another way. A better way. Murder isn’t off the list—he’s a Sharpe—but there are a hundred other things he’d try first. And he’d never touch anyone uninvolved. That’d be just. Too easy. Bruin is above that; he had ensured it.

(This is probably how he got Brett Mahoney. Corruption would always be part of the police force; it had been designed that way. But at least Bruin ensured outcomes that Brett could live with. Better Bruin than any other devil in Hell’s Kitchen.) (Oh, this could also be how Karen got on Bruin’s radar and directed to Murdock’s arms.)

So. People loved Bruin. Or at least vastly preferred him. More people are willing to give Bruin a chance. Not the best profit but excellent job security. (Matt would like it if Bruin was hated so he could have zero charitable thoughts about the guy.) (Actually, he wouldn't. The guy just takes too much of his thoughts.)

[allegedly-human]

wow look at you and your extra serious "I want people to respect my preferences even though I will only vaguely allude to information about myself" post pinned at the top of your blog and your weird joker clown furry display pic and your "this anon user just embarrassed himself" comment lmao you're so pseudo intellectual it stings like you're all brooding and distrusting in general even though nobody cares who you are or about you at all. You probably have just the most boring and pointless discussions on reddit or somewhere similar where you go way too far to format your responses like some scholar but it just comes off with the intellectual vanity of a 13 year old boy who just started expanding their vocabulary and let it get to their ego. Everything about you at face value is so cringe I can't even find the words to critique it satisfactorily. You're probably going to take this ask so seriously and address all my points like you're in some high school debate class omg. You're out here acting like everybody wants to get to know you, like you've spent your entire online life having to bat people away who get too close, like you have some dark tragic backstory about getting your feelings hurt that's supposed to evoke sympathy from people who didn't understand before you told them, and when you finally let them in you think it's like some big deal and they'll be like "wow I'm sorry I didn't know" when the reality is you're just like alone here on your blog proclaiming yourself as some dark mysterious interesting figure who is forbidden to know, expecting to pique some kind of awe and mysticism, but everyone is like "okay," and really does not care. I can't believe I can still find people like you on the internet, you're so socially reminiscent of like 20 years ago when people just had petty arguments on small forums, going out of their way to "win" the argument, not even knowing what it means to win an argument, but trying so hard anyway because they imagine themselves some mighty intellectual who puts everyone in their place. Look at you, so afraid of any insignificant piece of information about you leaking online, like you're in witness protection, like the cartels are after you, lmao. Who do you think even cares? What do you think you have that anyone wants? The funny thing is it's not even a big deal to keep your information private, but those who do simply do, while you're out here practically holding a sign that reads "DONT ASK ABOUT ME" in big red letters, advertising it so hard, like you're trying to draw attention to yourself, the same self that you don't want people asking about. It definitely doesn't come off like something an adult would do, although I'm not doubting you are one, I just don't think you're mature like one. The 3 seconds I spent looking at your blog told me all I'm interested to know about you anyway, and I think you need to just sit down lmao. The one person you have asking for information about you isn't even curious about who you are, they're just raising a concern about blocking you, and still you pin it up at the top of your blog like, "look everybody, I have people asking about me! oh it's such a struggle to be so interesting please don't attempt to know me! The more you try to know me the harder it will be!" hahahaha so funny

You can really just find so many types of people on this website uh

[snowddeong]

Up to now that stupid tweet is genuinely cracking me tf up like wdym girls kissing is "against your religion and beliefs" 😭😭😭

These sorts of christians are such fucking hypocrites because there is so much shit in the bible, especially the old testament, that is just not okay and if you use this line of argumentation then shit like slavery, marital rape, genocide and so much other shit are totally fine because the bible is like really casual about how all that shit is normal. If it was a "different time" why do they always draw the line at gay people 😭 we know for a fact that a lot of the translation of the bible is also rooted in white supremacist, patriarchal beliefs lmao if you're going to use it as your and all be all guide then first of all stop nitpicking and second acknowledge that there is no way in hell that the translations you have are perfect lmao

It's really crazy as someone who was raised in a christian environment how the bible also literally says "hey dude, don't make judgements on people that you think are sinners just live your life" and yet again these sorts of christians feel the need to be like "yeah you're gross and here's a thesis on WHY you're gross lol" Jesus himself was literally chilling with the sort of people that this mf would probably call gross too unyet there is like zero self awareness.

Now, if op hadn't said anything and just moved on with his life that'd be different. It wouldn't be okay imo cause I don't think being conservative is okay but it wouldn't be like impeding anyone. But to go out of your way to qrt a clip of the girls talking about kissing with a whole dissertation on outdated shit that can very, very easily be justified using biology and evolution theory is just bonkers honestly. Like why must that be our business? However much you justify it it's just being fucking hateful lmao.

I'm no scholar or even a debater but shit like this is already a shitty argument from point one because instead of starting with trying to prove why it is that humans have morals you just assume that the only answer MUST be because of god. This shit can very easily be observed by the way that society has all these unspoken norms that pass on and on throughout generations. Humans are a social species, ofc we'd develop instincts that value the well being of the whole and that make most of us not wanna do shit that would oust us from the whole. And like that could be wrong however much it makes sense to me, but there's multiple reasons why "objective moral values" exist come on now 😭

And this bit later

Like, people's moral compasses are also influenced by where they come from 😭there's shit that I assign moral value because I grew up in Uganda that people who grew up in a different place wouldn't assign moral value 😭 it's not about "personal preference" or "illusions" it's just how society works omg. Then hogwash about why actually it's god that causes these things 😭there is nothing substantial here beyond "yeah these big names show it in their works" HOW lmao explain it 😭😭

And this is not to bash on religious people. As an atheist I think that the only reason that I'm not religious is because I'm simply not the kinda person who has the capability or even need to believe in some greater power to build a relationship with. But a lot of people do and that's cool. Your relationship with your religion should be about you and whoever you believe in not an excuse to be a fucking asshole because your fav girl group made a joke about kissing each other jesus christ.

This is so fucking long lmao and I still have more to say but let me leave it at that pff

[system-of-a-feather]

(Disclaimer: this post was written in two parts, the first half was done the day before but not posted cause I didnt feel it was a complete thought, the second half was added after. I did not edit or touch the first half as I like to keep space for the thoughts of myself as they were; i also have passive chronic amnesia so Im not 100% sure if everything is on the same page; regardless that is just context)

Honestly, I think the thing that is important to keep in mind when interacting with syscourse - or specifically for us cause the only one we really care about is the tulpa discourse - is that you are never going to force or change anyone's mind who is so set that they are sitting on tumblr and pulling the dumbest arguments out of their ass to support their claims and I do think those that spend their time arguing with @/sophieinwonderland and @/cambriancrew - while honestly doing the dirty work no one wants to do by balancing out their bullshit posting so mad respect - are largely wasting their time if they do ever think that a mind will be changed.

The only reason to ever engage or talk about the stuff they (and the clique that actually buys into those arguments) talk about is solely to make an example out of how incredibly deep their interalized racism and just disregard for POC goes and honestly looking at them as anything other than a stubborn white person is putting more emotional energy than its worth.

Because genuinely, in a weird way and me doing what XIV calls "The Riku Thing" of looking at a really negative, annoying, and/or harmful thing and finding the bright side silverlining to it, I do kind of appreciate how astonishingly White TM they are because their unapologetic and loud nature makes a really big spectacle for a lot of people who otherwise would not understand how bad certain issues are look and go "what the fuck" and in its own way, it brings good publicity to the issues AAPI and eastern cultures go through in a western and white predominant area.

AAPI issues often go under the radar and are disregarded due to a number of reasons, but honestly? This is the most I've ever seen people actually talk about how white people take advantage of eastern and Asian cultures (relative to the size of the community in question) save for the brief blip of when Stop Asian Hate got loud during COVID where sinophobia blasted up and a bit surrounding Cyberpunk as a genre when Cyberpunk 2077 came out.

In that regard, I'm kinda glad they are so loudly racist and White TM about AAPI cultures. It makes for good publicity and awareness by being the example of just the Usual Bullshit and it starts better conversations. I'd honestly prefer a loud bigot to a quiet insidious one cause the loud ones at least can serve part of a message and be ignored.

Anyhow, this is all just to say that bigots will be bigots and you can argue with them all you want and call them truthful statements like "bigots" and "racist" but thats about all you can do to really control their behavior. Those balancing out their bullshit arguments, mad props - I could never cause that shit is too toxic and too much of an investment, but it is respectable work. (insert "it aint much but its honest work" meme at yall)

---(cut between original thoughts and the added bit)---

That said, I'll just say it as the fact that it is, those two and those that follow their rhetoric do not care at all about AAPI individuals and are just racist. We don't have to debate it and it's honestly not up for debate and while we could put our energy to trying to tear down their following and make them shut up, in a world where the KKK still exists and thrives, its an unlikely and futile of a goal to try ti achieve.

Instead its best imo to treat them like the public case study of white and western abuses to AAPI culture, particularly since time and time again they redisplay some of the most classic and frequently used techniques white and western individuals do to try to excuse their shit.

If you wouldn't give a person arguing with any other loud and proud bigot, its best to just accept that bigots be bigots and rather than banging your head against a wall, put it up for display on the museum wall as a means of education and awareness.

Theres no point in talking to bigots about how they are bigotted. There is, however, a point to displaying it for those less effected and usually not given the opportunity to sed it in full get a much closer look at some of the shit we deal with

I like to think that while a lot of white and western people suck, that a lot of them genuinely are trying their best with the limited awareness, access, and understanding that they have.

I dont feel as though I would be correct calling them and bigots a "small minority", but I'd like to think they aren't the majority and I honestly appreciate those willing to learn and better understand and so ya know? Whats a better way to explain it than with a live dancing monkey that loudly and proudly displays the behaviors in question for all to see.

Anyhow, I digress. Take this as you will. I am just throwing some insight and personal thoughts about specific users in hopes that some people who might be overly stressed about it might find a little more peace moderating the topic

[aulel-process]

Is there such a thing as good taste?

By Paul Graham

When I was a kid, I'd have said there wasn't. My father told me so. Some people like some things, and other people like other things, and who's to say who's right?

It seemed so obvious that there was no such thing as good taste that it was only through indirect evidence that I realized my father was wrong. And that's what I'm going to give you here: a proof by reductio ad absurdum. If we start from the premise that there's no such thing as good taste, we end up with conclusions that are obviously false, and therefore the premise must be wrong.

We'd better start by saying what good taste is. There's a narrow sense in which it refers to aesthetic judgements and a broader one in which it refers to preferences of any kind. The strongest proof would be to show that taste exists in the narrowest sense, so I'm going to talk about taste in art. You have better taste than me if the art you like is better than the art I like.

If there's no such thing as good taste, then there's no such thing as good art. Because if there is such a thing as good art, it's easy to tell which of two people has better taste. Show them a lot of works by artists they've never seen before and ask them to choose the best, and whoever chooses the better art has better taste.

So if you want to discard the concept of good taste, you also have to discard the concept of good art. And that means you have to discard the possibility of people being good at making it. Which means there's no way for artists to be good at their jobs. And not just visual artists, but anyone who is in any sense an artist. You can't have good actors, or novelists, or composers, or dancers either. You can have popular novelists, but not good ones.

We don't realize how far we'd have to go if we discarded the concept of good taste, because we don't even debate the most obvious cases. But it doesn't just mean we can't say which of two famous painters is better. It means we can't say that any painter is better than a randomly chosen eight year old.

That was how I realized my father was wrong. I started studying painting. And it was just like other kinds of work I'd done: you could do it well, or badly, and if you tried hard, you could get better at it. And it was obvious that Leonardo and Bellini were much better at it than me. That gap between us was not imaginary. They were so good. And if they could be good, then art could be good, and there was such a thing as good taste after all.

Now that I've explained how to show there is such a thing as good taste, I should also explain why people think there isn't. There are two reasons. One is that there's always so much disagreement about taste. Most people's response to art is a tangle of unexamined impulses. Is the artist famous? Is the subject attractive? Is this the sort of art they're supposed to like? Is it hanging in a famous museum, or reproduced in a big, expensive book? In practice most people's response to art is dominated by such extraneous factors.

And the people who do claim to have good taste are so often mistaken. The paintings admired by the so-called experts in one generation are often so different from those admired a few generations later. It's easy to conclude there's nothing real there at all. It's only when you isolate this force, for example by trying to paint and comparing your work to Bellini's, that you can see that it does in fact exist.

The other reason people doubt that art can be good is that there doesn't seem to be any room in the art for this goodness. The argument goes like this. Imagine several people looking at a work of art and judging how good it is. If being good art really is a property of objects, it should be in the object somehow. But it doesn't seem to be; it seems to be something happening in the heads of each of the observers. And if they disagree, how do you choose between them?

The solution to this puzzle is to realize that the purpose of art is to work on its human audience, and humans have a lot in common. And to the extent the things an object acts upon respond in the same way, that's arguably what it means for the object to have the corresponding property. If everything a particle interacts with behaves as if the particle had a mass of m, then it has a mass of m. So the distinction between "objective" and "subjective" is not binary, but a matter of degree, depending on how much the subjects have in common. Particles interacting with one another are at one pole, but people interacting with art are not all the way at the other; their reactions aren't random.

Because people's responses to art aren't random, art can be designed to operate on people, and be good or bad depending on how effectively it does so. Much as a vaccine can be. If someone were talking about the ability of a vaccine to confer immunity, it would seem very frivolous to object that conferring immunity wasn't really a property of vaccines, because acquiring immunity is something that happens in the immune system of each individual person. Sure, people's immune systems vary, and a vaccine that worked on one might not work on another, but that doesn't make it meaningless to talk about the effectiveness of a vaccine.

The situation with art is messier, of course. You can't measure effectiveness by simply taking a vote, as you do with vaccines. You have to imagine the responses of subjects with a deep knowledge of art, and enough clarity of mind to be able to ignore extraneous influences like the fame of the artist. And even then you'd still see some disagreement. People do vary, and judging art is hard, especially recent art. There is definitely not a total order either of works or of people's ability to judge them. But there is equally definitely a partial order of both. So while it's not possible to have perfect taste, it is possible to have good taste.

( 1 )

_________________________________

I don't agree with everything in this article, but I think he makes some interesting points.

As an old friend once said, "judgement is not inherently bad. It would not be possible to have a discipline without it."

Judgment is also not bias.

I do think it is possible to objectively evaluate the skill of a work of art... but art is also much more than only skill. Judgement becomes complicated once it is about life itself, which is, very broadly, what art represents.

Also... I think taste changes with exposure... If you have not seen a "great" work of art, then your frame of reference can only be the best of what you've seen.

"Sam and Sadie both knew what they liked in a game, and they could easily tell a good game from a bad game. For Sadie, that knowledge was not necessarily helpful. Her time with Dov and her years studying games in general had made her critical of everything. She could tell you exactly what was wrong with any game, but she didn't necessarily know how to make a great game herself. There is a time for any fledgling artist where one's taste exceeds one's abilities. The only way to get through this period is to make things anyway." -Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

[skitskatdacat63]

misc lore drop day 28/?

Gah this has been the focus of my last two posts so this will probably end up being me just rehashing the same things BUT. I don't care, it's my post. I'm just so endeared to the idea of intense arguing being vettonso's special thing(irl, but specifically in this au.) Again, to anyone else, it comes off as very aggressive and worrying. Like wow they really aren't getting along well, is this marriage gonna crash and burn before it even really begins? Whenever they start up, people worry they're gonna have to pull them apart like fighting dogs. But, no. It's their thing! They don't get at all why everyone around them gets nervous. You call it arguing, they call it a passionate debate , a conversation even. I would use the word “friendly," but they would probably get annoyed at that. The ladies doth protest too much, methinks…

It's very interesting too how they personally view it though. Clearly it's a point of familiarity, and something they can bond over. They also fiercely defend their right to argue, I mean debate, and absolutely HATE when anyone tells them to lay off the other, like "Hey woah we're having a debate here, if you can't handle the heat, get out of the hearth." If anyone tried to get involved and defend one of them or something, said person would get annoyed at the intrusion. Imagine someone butting in and being like, “hey stop being so rude to the Emperor, this is so disrespectful!” Seb in return would yell at them, “HEY DID I SAY YOU COULD SPEAK!? WE’RE HAVING A PRIVATE CONVO RN!” Ignoring the fact they’re talking so loud that people across the continent could hear it. But, at the same time, as I said, they would deny it to an insane decree if anyone, god forbid, accused them of actually getting along.  

They're both very argumentative, demanding, opinionated people. This is obviously very hard for most people to deal with. Like, oh my god, stop turning everything into an argument, I’m just trying to make polite conversation! They've spent a lot of their lives leading up to their courtship sulking because no one will fully engage them in the way they desperately want to. Even when people do, it’s way too passive, and just ends up getting uncomfortable. Also, they hang around a bunch of yes-men most of the time so it makes sense why they aren’t getting too challenged, because it would be extremely discourteous. But then they majorly enter each other’s lives. I like to imagine it begins with one of them making an innocuous statement like "I prefer blue to red." The other can't help himself from saying "um actually red is superior bcs of xyz." And he's smacking themselves in the head internally, like oh god, he's gonna start bitching, isn’t he? Not that either of them really care deeply about offending other people, but rather it's such a hassle when the other person isn't willing to debate, and goes on and on about how irritating it is. Like damn okay, coward, I don't need your whole spiel about it. But then the other man gets a glimmer in his eye, and goes along with it. Boom. Fireworks.

[korben600]

I had an argument with someone on r/AskFeminists recently that went like this.

The starting question was along the lines of “Hey if women are trying to not be shamed for their appearance maybe we should also stop talking about men being in different ‘leagues’? And also stop shaming people for preferring introversion and indoor activities like videogames?”

The comments section was a fucking mess. A TON of people just saying something along the lines of “oh leagues aren’t great” but then go into explicit detail on why they’re allowed to have standards. And those standards coincidentally coincided exactly with what OP was talking about.

One commenter was low key insane, going up and down every single reply to comment on them.

Eventually after scrolling for a bit, I found their own personal reply. It talked about how they aren’t going to date anyone who spent all of their day wasting time on the computer (as they didn’t deserve love), and she wanted someone with real ambition who could keep up with her.

Well I thought that was really weird because she found the time to reply to EVERY single comment up and down the post (and it wasn’t a quiet post either). And when I’d looked at other posts, they were there too.

So I checked their profile.

600,000 Reddit Karma.

For reference, I’ve been on Reddit for two years and I barely have 80,000 Reddit Karma.

This woman is OBSESSED with Reddit and arguing with people.

So I promptly told her that by her own standards, she was unlovable because she spent all of her day wasting time on the computer.

Naturally she responded within two minutes.

There were a lot of justifications thrown around in the ensuing debate, but they just kept digging a deeper hole for her.

Oh I’m at a job where I don’t do anything so I can spend all day on Reddit - Does that mean you’re not ambitious?

My ambitions lie outside of our capitalist system - So what do you do outside of this system then? Besides spend an incredible amount of time on Reddit?

Also she gradually started calling herself a Queen and a Goddess which was just…weird.

Eventually it got to the point where she fucking blocked me because she didn’t want to acknowledge that by her own standards she would be “unlovable”.

So I moved on with my day and that was the end of that.

…except I realized one last thing before I decided to abandon that subreddit entirely.

She wasn’t just a random Reddit user on that subreddit of over 100,000 people.

She was a fucking Moderator.

So yeah, next time, before y’all start shaming people for their hobbies, maybe take a nice long look at your own user history.

[sierrater]

response to catnon :3 (read here: https://www.tumblr.com/total-drama-takes-the-squeakquel/745309781592588288/httpswwwtumblrcomtotal-drama-takes-the-squeak?source=share)

okay first of all THANK YOU FOR NOT JUST SAYING NUH UH AND BEING DONE WITH IT!!!!! I MAY DISAGREE BUT THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY MAKING POINTS ABOUT IT. cuz now i can debate :D (i very much enjoy debating) here we go

Emma's friendship with Bowie was literally all about Chase. It started and ended because of him. It started because Bowie was like "oh girl hes shitty" and she was like "ikkkk" and it ended because he was like "oh girl hes shitty" and she was like "erm no!!!!" (i hate how the writers kept trying to bring chemma back let them both be freeeeeee). And the dance is just.. a dance. I'm not trying to say you're reaching but it is just 1 piece of evidence. Other than her dancing, there is barely any evidence to show that she doesn't care what others think (correct me if im wrong, ive only seen the reboot once and I haven't been able to 🏴‍☠️ s2 yet). I'm gonna take your word for it though, that she was super excited about the challenge even without knowing the answers. That's fun!!!! That is so fun, duh would she wanna do it, anyone would!!!!!! Maybe she just found it fun? And again, anyone would !!

Second, I do agree about the abuse thing. I dont think I worded my argument correctly in that ask, before it was posted I regretted saying that and I still do. What I meant was that Chase probably would apologize and try to make it better IF HE KNEW THAT WHAT HE DID WAS WRONG. Which he DOESN'T. And Emma is acting like he does in the show. He's shown to care about her on multiple occasions, and even saved her life once. He didn't want to kill her, he didn't want to hurt her. Someone really needs to sit him down and tell him that "its just a prank bro" is not a valid excuse so that he'll go and say sorry to her. because so far nobody has. also where are yall getting the manipulation thing from genuinely its giving the cody stole gwens bra debate he literally just asked her to get back together a few times. 😭😭 go outside please /nbh

Personally, my least favorite thing in this show is WASTED potential. Emma did have the potential to be great, but with how they did her in S2 (referring to her getting voted out quickly) I'm losing hope. That's probably part of why I hate her so much. Just a difference in preference, I guess :)

Also, I heard from my friend that her archetype was the tiktok star, I should have done my own research. mb lmao. Still, im pretty sure she doesn't mention YouTube if its not in the context of Chase.

Closing out, I don't agree with you but still thank you for actually coming up with an argument, nobody has done that yet and I really really appreciate it 👍👍

[mallowstep]

Sometimes I see ships people make and the way they talk abt them and I’m like “making it gay doesn’t make it good, making it gay doesn’t even make it better.”

Like this is not at all meant to say that you can’t or shouldn’t like a gay ship more than a straight ship. You absolutely can. This is not a post abt PREFERENCE. It’s a post abt Quality.

(Like bc this point is rly important to me. You’re allowed to like “bad” things. I have never seen a movie and thought “that’s a bad movie” bc I love shitty movies. Not even ironically I simply do not ever consider if a movie was High Quality. Crack ships r so good. I have a ~20k series based around a crack ship. Please don’t misunderstand my point here.)

Okay anyway on to my actual thoughts:

I don’t want to name any specific examples bc I don’t want to feel like I’m targeting something specific when I’m speaking to a general trend, so I’ll do my best not to. But there’s a — it’s subtle, but there’s a pervasive idea that a ship being gay makes it inherently better than a ship being straight.

(I should probably define “better.” I’m using it loosely, but to me a “good ship” is something that makes an interesting story.)

I think like — Fire/Grey isn’t a better ship than Fire/Sand. This feels like a good example bc they’re so common. Okay. And I don’t mean — if you like best friends who fall in love, you might prefer Fire/Grey, and you would be right, they’re a better execution of that idea. But Fire/Sand isn’t meant to be an execution of that idea, it’s meant to be about maturing and growing into someone and falling in love not despite their flaws but because of them. So Fire/Sand is a better ship to me.

(This point is debatable, but the point is not which is better, I just need to make a damn argument so y’all can get an idea of what I’m talking about.)

Anyway it’s subtle. Rarely do people say they’re picking a ship because it’s gay, and I don’t think the people who automatically ship characters in gay ships are inherently doing this. Man I get it, I’m gay! I do it too. I’m not like. Trying to get anyone to change what they ship. The world always needs more messy queerness, woe be on me to stop that. But it’s been getting under my skin lately because a ship being gay doesn’t make it better and that means I feel like the execution of a lot of ships is just…falling flat.

Y’know like — I’m thinking abt Dovewing and Briarlight ATM. I love Dove/Briar, it’s a cute ship, but it’s rarely developed. It’s just like. Okay dovewing has a girlfriend now!!

And I think that’s a shame because there’s a lot of meat in that ship. I think Dovewing’s desire to be charmed off her feet pairs nicely with Briarlight’s need to feel like an equal partner. And that’s just my interpretation, there are certainly others.

Or like, Bluefur/Rosetail is a really good ship with a lot of canon support. But people just go…okay they’re gay now!

And it’s like — they’re childhood friends, they have all this connection, Rosetail adores romance and Bluefur is so focused she rarely considers it. That’s a really interesting story.

So I’m going to like Bluefur/Thrushpelt more every time because it’s a good ship that hits the sweet spots and until people start developing ships past “character gay?” unless I put in the work why would I care?

Idk if I’m making sense, I’ve been rambling into a void for a while.

[gentrychild]

Super Intrigued by your interpretation of Afo's love and his expression of it. 10/10 would love to hear you elaborate on it if you have the time!

This will mostly be about First but if you're here, you know I'm a DFO theorist so Izuku will also be mentioned.

I don't think it's love but it's the closest thing someone like AFO can get. I used to joke that he loves his family members like a dragon loves his gold and I stand by it. It's his, he can put it somewhere and forget about it, but if anyone tries to steal it from it (and yes, that includes said family members walking away), it means war.

I have always read his interactions with his little brother as AFO wordlessly screaming "You are not allowed to leave me." He keeps flaunting all those followers who adore him so really, he technically doesn't need to have his brother in his corner. His brother is still vaulted and to me, that screams of some serious abandonment issues.

What I wouldn't give to have a flashback about AFO and First's childhood...

All for One also doesn't mind opposition from his family members... as long as he is winning.

He is shown smiling and refuting his little brother's argument during chapter 193 and he really doesn't seem to be upset by Yoichi throwing accusations around. And it makes sense, it's always fun to win a debate! But when his brother started his hunger strike and refused to give in, it wasn't fun anymore for him. Yoichi wasn't being baited anymore, he wasn't fighting his brother in a way that AFO could win, so Plan B it was.

(Btw, AFO giving a quirk to his brother was a plan to make him see his point of view or for them to get along. Meta humans were hunted during the Dawn of Quirks. AFO made sure to give his brother a very weak quirk. It was so Yoichi, if he wanted to stay alive, would have no choice but to rely on AFO's protection to survive. The whole thing was a "Haha, we're stuck together now!" plan.)

It's also probably the reason why he looks like he is having so much fun during the solo hunt arc when Izuku is running around Japan, trying to find him. Izuku isn't a threat to him (or so he thinks), having a family member trying to find him is good for his ego and he even compares it to a game of hide-and-seek.

Another thing about AFO: he isn't as protective as a lot of DFO theorists (me included) write him. I still have in mind this panel of AFO's bodyguard neutralizing Yoichi by slamming him to the ground and AFO wasn't upset, just warning his bodyguard to be careful because his brother was fragile then he immediately tells Koichi how he has a bodyguard now Because He Is Someone Important. And that's not talking about the amount of damage Izuku got because of the LoV. I think AFO has a "Eh, as long as they are in one piece" mentality.

So, AFO's love is obsessive, selfish, it's about his needs, he needs the family members where he can easily find them, and he prefers them dependent on him for protection.

It's not a coincidence if Yoichi received a weak quirk, Izuku received none at all, and Inko's social life is never shown and she is rarely seen out of her house.

[aita-anon-info]

a lot of people were asking the context of the argument. i didn't include it bc it wasn't really relevant to what i was asking about and it was already a pretty long ask, so i didn't want to make it a bunch longer, but if y'all are interested then?

essentially, another friend of mine in the server (we'll call them L) was talking about a fictional character that they like/find attractive. they made an offhanded comment about how "it'd be nice if he was taller" [in comparison to a character they ship him with], but overall were just talking abt how much they like him as a character.

i didn't know anything about the character, but we ended up talking about height differences, and i mentioned how my (transmasc) boyfriend is very short. he is fine with his height and encourages me and others to make short jokes about him, because he finds them funny. i'll be honest that i don't remember exactly what i said here, but i later showed my bf screenshots of the convo and he said i hadn't said anything he was upset by.

this is when other members of the server came in, most notably one of P's close friends as well as P's cousin. it started with a very aggressive request for us to stop talking about height because we were making people uncomfortable. L and i were both fine with stopping, but we asked which part of our conversation had been the issue so we could avoid it in the future. this spiraled into a huge argument where P & co. were saying that L was height shaming this fictional character (who does not have emotions, as he is not real) and that i was height shaming my boyfriend (who found everything i said funny). they likened having a preference on a fictional character's height to irl fat shaming/promoting eating disorders and called both L and i "heightist" for having this conversation. i at one point gently suggested that height could be added to the server blacklist if it was a triggering topic, and P's cousin snapped at me that it's not triggering, it's completely inappropriate, and it's not on the blacklist for the same reason things like racism and homophobia aren't on the blacklist - because everyone should "just know" that some topics aren't okay. important to note - not once was transphobia brought up during this argument. it was only a week or so later that D suddenly decided i had been transphobic.

this is around the point when i realized that everyone was just getting upset and no one would be able to talk productively at this point, so i asked D to shut down the channel to end the argument, which he did. i apologized to him privately for not just backing off sooner (although i'm really not sure i would've been given that chance). after everyone had calmed down, D asked for my advice on ways to prevent those kinds of arguments in the future, and we talked about a few potential options to keep things calmer.

then, as i said in the original ask, everything went back to normal for about a week before D suddenly kicked me out, and when i asked why, he said that i had been transphobic during the argument. i asked him to tell me what i had said that was transphobic, so that i could learn from it and do better, but he didn't give any examples. he just told me that he "couldn't be friends with a transphobe" and left it at that.

i'll admit that the whole height debate was a bit of a sensitive subject in a server full of mostly transmasc folk, and i don't really know if i was in the right or not. but if i was wrong, i was willing to try to fix it/make up for it, and i wasn't given that chance. i also was the only one kicked from the server - not L or anyone else that argued on our side. no one else was accused of being transphobic. so again, while the argument was a complete mess and i was willing to accept responsibility if need be, it really felt more like i was being singled out and pushed away for an unrelated reason.

EDIT to add: i also don't blame D for the transphobic thing and i didn't even when it first happened. i was upset, but even then i could tell that this wasn't just about the argument. a lot of people are bashing D in the notes, but i've never been angry with him. i'm worried, more than anything. i just don't know how to help him, or if i even can, with where i'm at mentally.

this is really long so idk if you want to reblog this @am-i-the-asshole-official ??? but idk if anyone would check the reblogs otherwise so?? up to you

AITA for abandoning my friend?

Around the beginning of this year, I joined a Discord server that was run by one person, D. D's partner(?), P, was also in the server. It very quickly became apparent to me that P did not like me, despite my attempts to be friendly, and at one point P even left the server for reasons I suspect had something to do with me. Despite this, D and I quickly became friends, and I genuinely enjoyed talking to him and spending time with him. I assumed it was fine even if P didn't like me, because I wasn't interested in D romantically and wasn't trying to cause problems for them; I just liked hanging out with D as a friend.

Things were fine for a few months, but there ended up being a minor argument in the server that spiraled a bit out of control, with most people in the server ending up split between supporting me and my friends, or P and his friends. I advised D to close the channel to stop the argument, and apologized to him in private once it was over, asked if there was anything I could do to help, etc. I still don't think I was in the wrong in this argument, but it was really over such a minor thing that I was trying to just deescalate and move on.

For about a week or so, everything was fine, but then D suddenly kicked me from the server without warning, and when I messaged him to ask what happened, he told me that what I'd said during the argument (now a week prior) was transphobic and he didn't want to be friends with a transphobe. I asked for an explanation of what I'd said that was transphobic, but he didn't answer, and kept insisting we couldn't be friends. So, I told him that I'd back off and leave him alone for now, but that I'd still be here if he changed his mind some day.

I already suspected by that point that P had something to do with him suddenly changing his mind, and a mutual friend, K, later confirmed that they also suspected P was being toxic and controlling based on their conversations with D. D had already cut me off by this point, so there wasn't much I could do; I just told K the same thing, that I still cared about D and wanted the best for him, but I wasn't going to reach out.

Fast forward a few months. After a death in the family and a subsequent struggle with grief and depression, I wasn't doing so great anymore. It was at this point that D reappeared, messaging my Tumblr to tell me, essentially, that he was still alive but not doing well, that he was sorry for how he'd treated me before, and that we still couldn't be friends, because P didn't like me. I'd told him before that I would still be his friend if he wanted me to, but now he wanted me to listen to him talk about what had gone wrong in his life when he was just going to vanish again after. I told him that I would happily listen and support him as a friend, but that if we're not friends and he's not going to stick around, then I don't have the energy to help him and also take care of myself. So, he left again, and I haven't heard from him since.

I've been worried about him since we last talked; I know that he's depressed, and I know what it's like to deal with an abusive partner, as I've had a few of them in the past. I want to be able to help him, but I don't know if he'll let me, and I know that if we have a major falling out again like we did before, it'll be a lot harder for me to recover now. AITA for putting myself first?

What are these acronyms?

[leviiattacks]

teacher!levi and teacher!reader headcanons please 🥺

author note :: i expected for this to be better but idk,,, um, you know maybe it’s just me who wishes i executed it better but i wrote this at 3am that’s my excuse. ANYWAY I HOPE U ENJOY ANON :-))) i know it’s not headcanons but here!! also my ask box is always open to feel free to drop by !! 

word count :: 5.4k (after i had to severely cut the word count down because my tumblr wouldn’t let me post the longer version with more detail,,,,)

honestly you’ve never fit in well with the math teachers in particular but you’re still amicable with most

however, there’s one unbearable member of the group that happens to want to play jump rope with your patience constantly

and that person just so happens to be mr ackerman

every single staff meeting the both of you sit furthest away from each other whilst silently exchanging bitter glares

maybe it’s his stony disposition or his unrealistically harsh grading system that makes him seem so off putting to you.

or perhaps it’s your soft and gentle approach to teaching that drives him up a wall

but to make matters simple, the two of you have never got along. nearly everything he says you disagree with and nearly everything you say he has to rebuke.

every outlandish suggestion of his at meetings is met with firm disapproval from you and every time you bring up wanting to provide the children with more time for extracurricular activities he sneers in annoyance

today he’s proposing a plan to set exams as soon as possible

???

you wonder if he’s even thinking with his head attached to his neck because it’ll be impossible for the children to handle all of the content in the form of an exam paper so soon

the workload he’s been pushing onto his math class has become far too ridiculous for your liking and you want to put an end to the man’s reign of terror

it just so happens your classes are scheduled in the blocks next to each other meaning he always sees your students an hour before you do

it’s got to the point where your pupils trudge into english class completely EXHAUSTED

the other day a boy fainted because of lack of sleep and now mr ackerman has the audacity to put forward the exam dates???

“we need to instill these children with discipline. taking them by surprise will give them a much needed reality check.”

you groan at his speech and raise a hand

“may i interject?”

professor ackerman’s tongue pokes at the inside of his cheek the irritation is painted on his face but he nods although he seems reluctant

“these children do not need standardized exams to-”

“would you like for me to completely scrap exams from the curriculum?” without even allowing for you to present your argument he has to cut you off with a mocking grin

“levi, i think-”

“that's mr ackerman to you.”

his blunt correction has you rolling your eyes because YES!! you understand the two of you aren’t exactly the best of friends but he doesn’t even want to be on a first name basis with a colleague of two years??

his pettiness has your blood boiling in searing displeasure

“you have to stop going so hard on these children.”

he’s shuffling through some paperwork not even batting an eye in your direction.

“personally, we aren’t hard enough but of course the english teacher has trouble understanding that.”

the jab he makes at your job only causes the anger inside of you to bubble up again

why does teaching english have ANYTHING to do with this???

“you teach math yet you can’t calculate the reasoning behind your subpar love life. do not insult english.”

personal insults are your favourite to throw at him because he always gets so riled up

and actually for once you have the answer to a math question.

the reason why his love life is so uneventful has to be because of this :

his personality + his obnoxious humour + his looks = a good looking but undatable man

his jaw clenches and the grip he has on the stack of papers in his hands strengthens

ok,, that is kinda hot but that is not relevant at all

you’re able to make out miss ral one of the other math teachers make a move to speak and god you fight the urge to punch her every day because she’s always gushing about mr ackerman

seeing as you don’t want to punch her or anyone for that matter you turn to give her a “if you speak right now i swear to god i will lose my shit” look

she gets the memo incredibly quickly because her mouth closes shut immediately

mr ackerman takes a sip out of the cup of black tea next to him. “i would appreciate if you just sat back and let me do what’s best.”

“children fainting in my lesson is not what’s best.” your rebuttal catches him off guard and he seems more than a little surprised

“wait- fainted??”

you eyes flick over to mr zacharias, you had told him to pass the message on but the way he’s sheepishly looking at the floor avoiding your eyes clearly tells you all you have to know

“looks like someone forgot to pass the message onto you but the other day falco fainted in english.”

“is he- is he okay?? did he say why?”

eyebrows raising you’re quite surprised to see any sort of reaction from him let alone concern

“he stayed up all night completing your homework.”

lips pressing together into a fine line it almost looks as if he’s guilty

“i’ll talk to him about it later.” his voice is back to its usually plain tone and any trace of his previous worry has been masked.

an awkward silence follows. he coughs choosing to not continue the discussion about exams.

principal smith takes the hint and moves on to discuss planned school trips

HOORAH victory!!!

yet another day where you’ve saved your students

“who is fallacy and why are they pathetic?” a few snorts and giggles are heard around the class and you force yourself to laugh at falco's miserable attempt at a joke

you’ve noticed falco’s been cracking more jokes around his new seat mate gabi.

she’s small but feisty always willing to debate and she’s really a joy to teach although she can get a little bit aggressive with the others at times

honestly it’s quite obvious that falco has a fat crush on her. well, actually it’s been obvious from the moment she step foot into your class

and... you couldn’t just ignore the way falco looked at her could you?? and there was an empty space next to him too sooooo, what harm would there be in placing the two together?

it seems as if your attempt at getting the both of them to talk has worked. gabi and falco compete desperately for the top position in the class and are two of the best students you’ve had in a while

also after the day falco fainted in class gabi has been noticeably nicer. things like asking if he’s drank water or how much he’s slept

you have a small inkling that she may like him back

and the budding romance is adorable to you because you too once had childhood crushes

it feels rather nostalgic to see the two interact

but today you notice the two aren’t in

in fact, you notice half of the class isn’t?

“where are the others?” your question sends a jolt through one of your present students but he stays silent choosing to pretend to clean his glasses as a distraction

crossing your arms over your chest you walk over towards his desk

“udo, you can tell me what it is.”

“professor ackerman said not to tell.” udo looks petrified and you’re just kinda wondering what in the hell is going on

lucky for you his resolve is thin and he quickly cracks under pressure

“okay. you can’t say i told.”

nodding in agreement he looks around making sure no one else hears what exactly it is he’s about to disclose

“he’s kept some people back to talk to them about something top secret. i don’t know what but he asked for the students who like you.”

at that you feel a little bitter because if he asked for the student who liked you why on earth is half the class still here??

but oh well, you guess you can’t please them all

“oh no, no, no. you’ve got it wrong. we all wanted to stay but he didn’t let us.”

udo looks genuine so you let it slide

either way it doesn’t really matter as long as the majority prefer you over that sick and twisted math teacher you’re alright

“he does know he’s cut into my class time right?”

“falco told him that and he whispered something about how you’re bothersome.”

you???? bothersome???

WHEN HE’S THE ONE BOTHERING EVERYONE?/!:£:!/)

you don’t even look back as you walk out frankly furious at what’s happened

english is important

ACTUALLY!!!

ENGLISH > MATH

you will stand by that till the day you die

your knuckle meets with the wooden surface of your sworn enemy’s classroom door and almost automatically you’re able to hear the shuffle of chairs and padding of numerous footsteps approach

the door swings open and you step aside to allow your missing students to pass through

they look nervous but one look at your reassuring smile lets them ease up and relax

“well.” a voice behind you snaps “look who paid me a visit.”

“we’re talking about this later.”

you try your best to sound serious but you don’t know if you pull it off as well as he does because he just ends up giving you a disappointed sort of look

“y/n. stick to being the good cop it suits you better.”

“we are not on first name basis. you said it yourself.” is your narrowed comeback

finally turning to face him you’re surprised when your eyes travel to the triangle of space behind him and you’re able to get a peek of what looks to be a list of books on his whiteboard

pride and prejudice

wuthering heights

jane eyre

ville-

before you’re able to read the rest he moves in front of your line of vision

he’s got quite the selection but,, when did he of all the people on this planet start showing any interest in literature?

“the books on the board what’s that about?”

your inquiry flies over his head and he shuts the door behind him completely

his face doesn’t move and if it does it only shows the slightest hint of confusion

“what books are you talking about?” he replies and don’t know why your knees feel a little weak when he looks you straight in the eyes

snap.

out.

of.

it.

“i saw books on the board.”

“you saw wrong.” he barks back and he’s getting agitated now

maybe you did imagine it...

and you have to get back to teach your class so okay fair enough you’ll let it go because you do know you have a habit of daydreaming randomly

however that doesn’t stop you from giving him another skeptical look before you leave because there is NO WAY you imagined it, but it is you and it really could be a possibility

the click clack of your heels against the floor sound out as you remove yourself from the conversation

you assume he’s returned to his classroom

that’s why it catches you by surprise when you hear a hesitant voice behind you

“there were no books on the board.”

you don’t know why he has to tell you that again because it only makes himself look all the more suspicious

“but if they were a list of book recommendations then what would you recommend i read?”

the question is peculiar coming from him

are you in an alternate universe?

is this a dream?

are you talking to a clone?

a robot?

because this can NOT be the same man you’ve been working with for two years

maybe he’s having a change of heart?

but that sounds unlikely

maybe he’s planning to read the book and somehow with that big brain of his formulate a calculation to score it a measly two out of ten

yeah. that sounds more likely.

nevertheless, you still want to give him a recommendation, maybe he’ll find out he’s into books this way

“you should totally check out pride and prejudice :-)”

for once you’re smiling at him and he doesn’t know what to do because the change is sudden but he doesn’t say a word after that

instead he retreats into his classroom

god.

now you’re sure he’s just asked to form a stupid calculation or whatever the hell it is math teachers do.

“he likes you.” hange has a shit eating grin on their face and you can’t help but narrow your eyes and sigh in exasperation

no he does not like you but you don’t try to correct hange because you know they’re firm in their stupid belief

“would you ever date him?” hange fiddles with the last of their potato salad absentmindedly waiting on your reply

the question literally has you choking on your lunch

“i would rather fight for survival in the wilderness. thank you for asking.”

“oh come on... he’s got a thing for you. you read romance novels all the time you should be able to tell he does.”

“yeah and that thing he has for me is wanting to shove my head onto a pitchfork. you’ve got the wrong end of the stick.” shoving a piece of pasta into your mouth you sigh dreamily at the taste. it serves as a momentary distraction

you get one lunch break and you are not!!!! in the mood to talk about him whilst you’re on that break

he’s attractive

and you have to admit he looks handsome in his crisp white button up and pristine black suit AND his cologne is really...

okay, you are digressing from the point

none of what you just said means anything!!!

at surface level he seems like a catch but it’s what’s on the inside that matters and he said he finds english stupid

that’s more than enough of a reason to dislike the guy?

he thinks stuff like the pythagorean theorem and y = mx+c are entertaining

y = mx+c ??? over literature???

you read books to teach and you read books for your own enjoyment

it would be a complete travesty if you had a crush on a book hater

and levi ackerman most certainly can be classed as a book hater.

a pessimistic book hater if the specifics are needed

“OH! SORRY Y/N GOTTA BLAST MOB’S OVER THERE!!!!!”

you don’t even get the chance to say goodbye because hange makes an eager run towards moblit

hange and moblit are inseparable, both are the shared heads of the science department and since he’s been off on sick leave recently you understand why hange’s rushed off to greet him

you wish you had a teacher friend like that but the sad truth is you’re pretty much a lone wolf. the other english teachers are wrinkly old pickles and talk about antiques or quiz shows :-(

“this seat free?”

no way.

it’s not him

it can't be

what does he even want??

“um, well yeah it is free b-.”

“good.” he takes the seat without you even inviting him and now you’re stuck in an awkward situation you didn’t even expect to be in today

you're about to burst into tears because is it too much to ask for a peaceful lunch period???

mr ackerman clears his throat and places a book in the center of the table. “pride and prejudice although not my cup of tea was... mildly enjoyable.”

wait...

is this him...

admitting defeat!??

HELLLOOOOO

you are over the moon right now because you know he really had to have enjoyed it a lot and is simply choosing to withhold that information for his own reputation

“i’m happy to hear you took a liking to it.” you’re munching away at your pasta a little more upbeat now

“okay but the start of the book assuming all single men want a wife? no, all i want is a good night’s rest for once. also mrs bennet needs to calm down, elizabeth can marry who the hell she wa-”

“someone’s a little passionate aren’t they?” you giggle into your glass of water and you catch mr ackerman frowning

“i liked it okay.”

“i thought you said it was only mildly enjoyable just now?” grinning and looking at him through your lashes his cheeks become red

you guess he’s angry or something but that’s the usual with him

“yeah, whatever. i just wanted to play fair and apologise.”

“apologise?” oh wow, now your interest has really peaked because never in the past two years has he apologised to ANYONE

not even principal smith for the one time he flipped out and nearly cursed at a mouthy student at parent's evening

grimacing a little before he does it he finally speaks again.

“english is important. i’m sorry.”

your lips tug up into a bright smile

well???

this is a great interaction??

an apology coming out of levi ackerman of all people

“apology accepted! i’m glad to know you liked the book but now that we’re a tad bit friendlier with each other i wanted to ask for a favour.” your eyes gleam and he swears he can see specks of shining stars in them

“...okay, it depends.”

he’s warming up to you so he considers it

“please don’t cut into my lesson time levi.” his name slips out of your mouth but it’s so natural you don’t even care to correct yourself

“i’m sorry about that too y/n.” your name now ventures out of his mouth too as it tests the waters

wordlessly the two of you agree to first name basis

BUT more important matters are at hand such as how he’s issued you yet another apology?

this is satire surely

because why is he so willing all of a sudden...?

well, that's the power of pride and prejudice, wow you’re really thanking the heavens for blessing this world with jane austen’s existence

jane austen. a woman capable of remarkable things, she's even managed to make an unmoving book hater somehow become a lover

poking at your tuna pasta you and levi are now quiet.

“soooooo, any opinions on mr wickham?” you ask the question hoping to initiate a longer conversation than before

and luckily for you your attempt works

SUCCESS!!

levi pinches the bridge of his nose and the creases on his forehead show he clearly isn't particularly fond of wickham

“don’t get me started he’s so indescribably annoying?”

ok, ok, ok

you don’t even know how it happens but you and levi really hit it off

weeks have passed and you and him have even become lunch buddies

it was so shocking to moblit at first that he dropped his lunch on the floor when he saw you and levi enthusiastically exchanging words

then again, two mr wickham haters are bound to get along

you’re seriously wondering how the two of you ever survived as mortal enemies

yeah, you still disagree a lot but you’re getting there!!

sometimes he helps you out when your computer stops running and in exchange you’re willing to offer him book recommendations

he swears he doesn't want any recommendations from you but you know he enjoys it

yesterday he got microsoft excel out and showed you how useful it really was and you went :O because you never really understood the need for it at all

you’re a little bit of a granny when it comes to tech...

and just today at lunch you recommended he checks some plays out but his nose wrinkled at the mention of shakespeare so the both of you went through a long list of dramas and eventually you were able to interest him in j.b. priestely's an inspector calls

another victory for you!!

anyway, right now the two of you are sitting inside of the staff room seeing as it's that time of the month again.

time for the monthly staff meeting

it's the first one you've had since you and levi became friends and you're worried the both of you will be back at it butting heads

wait, are you friends?

well, you wouldn't mind if that were the case but to be honest you would like to be a little bit more than friends mayb-

no!!! no!!! no!!! stupid thought!!! you retract that statement immediately

no you do not want to be more than friends with levi ackerman, yes he's lovely to a degree but you are not going to elaborate on why it's a terrible idea to fancy him

okay wait, let's elaborate for the sake of elaborating

he's surprisingly charming and wittier than you thought he would be. the fun conversations are making your days now and to be honest it is nice to have someone to spend lunch with (hange usually skips out on lunch all together to tinker in the science labs and set up experiments)

wait... weren't you suppose to explain why you don't want to get with him?

you're an idiot and you don't notice how dumb you really are until everyone just kinda gawks at the both of you because it's so odd seeing you in the same room let alone within a three feet radius of each other.

fuck, you completely forgot you and levi sat at opposite ends of the room

principal smith enters and even he looks visibly shocked at the change in seats but he doesn't mention it and you're grateful he doesn't because you didn't purposefully sit here it just happened on accident

erwin turns in your direction and smiles

"would you like to start off with your proposition for extracurriculars?"

nodding your head you begin passionately.

"well, i'd like to say i don't think we offer the children enough. we have spare funding so why not open another club? cooking perhaps? i understand many of you may not understand the importance of teaching them how to cook but-"

"do you have an obsession for setting these children up for failure?" tensing up you notice it's levi who's spoke and he doesn't sound remotely happy

blinking once and then twice he realizes his tone isn't the best and he mutters an apology "sorry, go ahead i'll add in when you're done."

whispers travel through the room straight away

"did he just say sorry?"

"actually why are those two sitting together?"

"do you think they're you know...?"

miss ral who's sat a little further away is the next person to disagree with you

"i understand the intention but would it not be better to let them have extra math lessons?"

"oh, so you can get a pay rise?" the comeback you make is aggressive and dripping in displeasure

she sits up face burning up

"no- no- absolutely not i take pleasure in teaching all of my classes." flustered and trying to hide her nerves she takes a sip out of her water bottle

you want to pour all of the water out onto that ginger hair of hers

the reason why her interjection is getting on your nerves is due to the fact you overheard her and another one of the math teachers plan to bring this specific point up

and you are well aware that her reasoning behind it has nothing to do with the children

she couldn't care less about them

"do not make me repeat what you and mr bozado were chit chatting about earlier today."

the threat is enough to silence her and just when you think you've handled the situation levi has to give his input

"let's ignore petra's motivations and talk about how teaching these kids how to cook means nothing if they have no tradable skills to offer in the real world." levi's not looking at you. he's either too annoyed or too preoccupied with his thought process

at that moment you feel naive, you thought maybe he would try to understand your opinion seeing as he's been spending so much time with you as of recent but that looks to not be the case

murmurs of agreement fill the room at his statement and you feel pathetic

it's practically the entire room against you now

genuinely how is it these people can manage to be such spoiled sports about everything?

"recently, i asked all of my classes to write an essay about school stress. maybe you won't understand my views because you haven't read their pieces but they need a fucking break." the expletive flies out of your mouth without warning and you flush in embarrassment

that

was

not

professional.

"oh god, i'm sorry i got worked up i shouldn't hav-" fumbling over all of your words you feel even more mortified

the principal raises his hand signalling you stop and you clamp your mouth shut. you're in huge trouble that's for sure

but,,, in spite of the clear difference in opinion between you and the other teachers, soft and well spoken principal smith says the unthinkable

"i have the final say and i believe you are coming from a good place after reading your student's work. how would you feel about running the new cooking club?"

scanning his face for a second you can tell his question is legitimate and the wave of relief that washes over you has never felt better than ever

sighing contently you agree and as the topic of conversation shifts to something else entirely you sense your heart rate picking up

you feel like you're back to square one with levi.

it's yet another day where you’ve saved your students and you should be feeling overjoyed but if anything you feel a little deflated

you wish he would have come around and understood but you can't teach and old dog new tricks

again, the feeling of disappointment wears you down

two weeks have passed since then and your favourite time of year has come. it’s spring term meaning MACBETH

the english curriculum includes plays and it just so happens that today is your first lesson covering shakespeare

and you LOVE shakespeare

something about all the intricate foreshadowing always has you excited

but some children are missing

and it’s way too many to blame on sickness

so you wait for a few minutes but it's consistently radio silent

the last time this happened the culprit had been levi and he promised to never cut into your lesson time

but you could count on him to break his promise after the fiasco that was the monthly meeting

is he back to hating you and hating literature?

well, that's his loss if that's the case!! and no!! you will not upset yourself over the loss of the budding friendship

sighing you get to your feet making a beeline to the door but gabi and falco rush to stop you

awkward chuckles activated they wave their hands to get your attention “OH NO, they’ll only be five minutes!!” their sentence comes out as one big blur of words but you manage to understand them

now you’re doubtful because you know falco and gabi would usually ignore you and allow you to walk out

giving them a knowing glance the pair look between each other

their eyes are clearly communicating and asking if it’s alright to tell you

“i promise i won’t be mad.” you sigh

perhaps if you reassure them they’ll be more likely to spill the beans

“it’s not that you... i don't know. you might be upset.” gabi isn't one to care much for other's feelings so you're slightly anxious even though you shouldn't be

but you’re a tough nut to crack. so, absolutely not. you are not going to upset yourself over whatever it is

“i won’t be hurt. i’ve suffered through reading some of the most emotional classics to ever exist.” hitting your chest with your fist you wince a little because you hit yourself a little too hard

falco’s seems to be too shy to come out with it so gabi takes the lead as she normally does

“some students were talking badly about you so mr ackerman kept them behind to have a talk.”

oh.

yeah, actually you are a teeny weeny bit disheartened because you think you’re nice to all of your pupils but it’s nothing too bad, not everyone will like you

“if that’s all i’ll go get them. thank you for letting me know.” giving them two thumbs up you leave the class immediately

levi is probably scolding them to hell and back

not because he cares for you but because he hates disrespect in general

as you’re nearing the open door of his classroom you hear something you never thought would emerge from levi’s room

“final question. why does mr darcy say he doesn’t want to dance with elizabeth at first?” oh yeah, that’s levi’s voice for sure

an english question?

is he quizzing them on pride and prejudice?

you wait hoping your students don't fail you and are able to provide the correct answer.

“ummm... she’s not pretty enough!!”

levi hums “you answered all five questions right. do you all know why?”

you can’t see the children’s faces but they have to be confused if there’s no immediate response

he grunts in agitation “because your english teacher works hard to teach you every single day. have some respect because that teacher of yours is one in a million.”

taking your bottom lip in between your teeth you fight the urge to smile

“do you know how at every single staff meeting there’s only ever one teacher fighting for you all and what you want. i can assure you that teacher isn’t me, but i believe you can all guess who i'm talking about.”

your heart does a back flip in your chest and you feel jittery but in that really fuzzy good way

like that super duper fuzzy and hazy good way

he’s really very sweet for saying all of this and you're now smiling like an idiot

one pupil takes a chance to make amends “we’re sorry mr ackerman.”

but before levi can give them a response you clap your hands together and walk in unannounced 

“apology accepted, now if you want to all be forgiven forever please return to class and answer the questions on the board!” directing them to the door with your hands you make sure they're conscious fo the fact you aren't mad at them

still, never have you seen them so eager to run off to analyze macbeth. you guess levi's deathly stare is the cause for it

holding back a laugh you clear your throat after the last student leaves

“thank you levi :-)”

it’s quiet for a second and you think to ask him about what has been gnawing at your mind

“you didn’t have to do that. you disagreed with me before so... why did you?”

“i say this at every meeting and you never listen but children need to be disciplined.” his unchangeable tone is unwelcoming

again it’s awkwardly silent and you sorta regret even coming over to see what was going on because now you and levi are just having an uncomfortable staring contest

then he scratches the back of his neck and heaves a heavy breath

“it may also be because i really fucking like you, but i look like an idiot saying that when we’ve been at each other's necks for two years.”

oh.

the sudden and brutally honest confession has the wind knocked out of you, you’re stunned

and then you get hit by it too. the realization hits you like rain hits umbrellas on stormy days. you like him too.

you like him for his witty sense of humour, his pure honesty and his hatred for mr wickham only serves as a bonus

yes, you have your differences. many of them. but you like him

he’s no longer a book hater and so by default you can fancy him. he goes against none of your guidelines essentially

you like him, he likes you back?’//’.;

[SCREAMS]

“well, what do you say? will you be this mr darcy's elizabeth bennet?” hearing the cheesy pickup line from him of all people has the butterflies in your stomach exploding in delight 

“you sound weird, where's the grumpy math teacher from before?" now you and him are simply shamelessly flirting but HEY!! you have no complaints at all

he scoffs at your sarcastic question

"do you want the equation for a two dimensional heart on a graph beca-"

"can i just kiss you?"

wOWIE are you being bold today y/n???

thankfully you don't have to wait for his answer. levi’s right hand pulls your face in and he slams his lips against yours. he gives your waist a squeeze and you hold him tighter by the neck in response. he has a way of somehow making it all feel gentle and relaxed in the same breath

and... you know what? maybe you should have recommended pride and prejudice to him earlier

but oh well.

what matters the most right now is that you're kissing your mr darcy!!

and he’s kissing his elizabeth bennet

:-)